R2-KT-49 and Patrick Matherne
About Patrick:
“I am a mechanical engineer who likes to tinker with things when I have free time. I have been into costuming since 2009 when I attended my first renaissance festival. I worked on cast there for a few years where I was a tailor, and a jester. Currently, I am with the 501st, Rebel Legion, South Central Droid Builds, and the Defenders Detachment where I can usually be spotted as a very oversized jawa running around. I also love puppetry and will sometimes have a small t-rex with me.”
Back Story:
“I have always been fascinated with Star Wars ever since I saw the movie in 1977. That Christmas I had gotten a ton of star wars toys, the death star, the original 12 action figures, sandcrawler, and the remote controlled R2-D2. I remember playing with that remote controlled R2 for a long time. Even back then I wanted a R2 of my own.”
“Fast forward several decades to 2003 and I started playing Star Wars Galaxy on the Lowca & Shadowfire servers. Started talking to other people who convinced me to start collecting vintage figures, vehicles, and playsets from my childhood off of ebay. Slowly I collected all the vintage figures and their accessories. This slowly led me on the path to learning about the 501st, Rebel Legion, and the Droid Builders. I was fascinated that you could make your own costumes. I looked at building my own outfits back then, but lacked the skills, and money to make anything decent. It was not until a convention in January of 2015 a friend mentioned that if you want to build a jedi, that ultrasabers were at the convention and they would likely do a sale at the end. Two weeks later my family was submitting three jedi to the Rebel Legion, Later on, I would make a Jawa and join the 501st as well.”
“During 2017 we were able to attend the Star Wars Celebration in Orlando. That was when I came across the droid builder display. I got to see many different astromechs. There was a minion one, a batman one, BB-8, several R2’s and one pink droid called R2-KT. Even got a picture with her. My wife told me if I ever build a R2 unit, it had to be a R2-KT.”
“A few months later, I came across the QT-KT paint job and really liked how that looked and decided if I ever got to where I could build an astromech it would be that one. Then in 2025, I got a 3d printer, and went to Disney World and saw Galaxy’s Edge. It brought me back to when I was a kid back in 1977. Ended up coming back with two droids from the droid workshop, a pair of lightsabers and a bunch of ideas about building my own droid. Within 3 months of getting home I had made a M6E Mouse Droid, a Pit Droid, baby Astromech, and a LO-LA droid. Around July I decided to get really ambitious and start printing out my astromech. Took me around 3 to 4 months to print everything out, I was working on her one and off, putting in an hour here or 2 hours there. Then finally in January 2026, she was ready as a static display, and made her first appearance at Coastcon. Over the next few months got the drive and astropixels up and running. At GalaxyCon 2026 she was fully running around.”
R2-KT-49 Data Sheet
Birth Date: First appearance March 6th 2026.
Drive System: Brushless hub motors with Flipsky Mini V6 MK5 VESC’s
Body: PETG
Build: 3 leg mobile. Mr Baddeley MK IV design. Simple body with complex dome and legs.
Lighting: Astropixels.
Sound: To be determined.
Special: Jawa copilot on the top. Her paint scheme is the Clone Wars variant. Plan on upgrading to the complex body to add in more features like a card dispenser and bubble sprayer.
Missions: Make over 1 million people smile, help raise money for charities, and get people interested in robotics and design.
Team Logo: In progress.
Story: First saw her paint job back in January 2018 and knew if I made an astromech, I would want that one. After a trip to Disney in April 2025 and seeing all the droid there I decided to start working on my own and have been working on her slowly since June 2025. Print time was around 3 months.
Mission: “To bring smiles to as many people as I can.”
2026: GalaxyCon, Mississippi
“I loved watching as the kids would interact with her. There was even a 4 year old who had a 5 minute conversation with her.”
R2-KT AmbassaDroid Corps and Pink Force are worldwide Star Wars fan organizations comprised of and operated by Star Wars fans. While it is not sponsored by Lucasfilm Ltd., it follows generally accepted ground rules for Star Wars fan groups. Star Wars, its characters, costumes, and all associated items are the intellectual property of Lucasfilm. © & ™ Lucasfilm Ltd. All rights reserved. Used under authorization.
